DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43337#0420
CHAPTER TWO. THE ICONOGRAPHIC PROGRAMME | 417
Joann, with the help of spiritual powers, stopped the chalice in mid-air,
blessed it, and then gave it to all present to drink from139.
Another detail recalls the close, ties between St Shio and Evagre:
a dove with a round loaf of bread in its beak flies towards Shio. When
the saint was praying in his cave he was left entirely without food. Then
«he, who by a raven fed Elijah in the Wilderness,» recounts the Life,
«each day sent Shio by a dove pure white bread»140. One day the Geor-
gian lord Evagre saw this dove while he was out hunting. He followed
the bird, found Shio’s cave and soon, renouncing a worldly life, became
the saint’s disciple and follower. A depiction of Evagre riding on horse-
back towards St Shio has been preserved in a relief on the 12th-century
altar screen from the Shio Mgvime monastery. We do not know, how-
ever, of direct analogies to the saint’s depiction in Akhtala.
The theme of the hagiography is transformed into a significant
symbol which forms part of the background to the portrait. This in-
terpretation of the depictions of holy monks is among the rare distin-
guishing features of the Akhtala murals. This iconographic approach
was well developed in Byzantine art, on the other hand. Vivid exam-
ples are icons of the Mother of God with prophets in the marginal
scenes. The depiction of each prophet is accompanied by symbols
that recall important episodes in their lives which, at one and the
same time, also prefigured the Virgin and the miracle of the Incarna-
tion141. It is interesting to note that the striving to give a liturgical in-
terpretation of symbols which can be observed in these works is also
typical of the Akhtala composition. For instance, the goblet blessed
by St Joann is given the appearance of the communion chalice and
decorated with a cross while the bread in the dove’s beak takes in the
form of the host.
The second, northern series of monks, ac-
cording to the Georgian inscriptions, depict
Euthymios Mtatsmindeli (of the Holy Mount),
Hilarion Kartveli (the Georgian) and George
Mtatsmindeli (of the Holy Mount). The most
honored position in the centre is allocated to
St Hilarion, a 9th-century Georgian monk who
traveled a great deal about the holy sites142.
But it was with Thessaloniki that he was most
closely associated, founding a monastery there
140 Ibid., p. 100.
141 On the tradition of such images
see Etingof O.E. Hermitage example
of Byzantine art of the Late XII century
// Eastern Mediterranean and the
Caucasus of the IV-XVI centuries.
Leningrad, 1988, pp. 153-4. - In
Russian.
142SeeMartin HisardB. La peregrination
du moine georgien Hilarion au IX siecle
// Bedi Kartlisa. Revue de Kartvelologie,
XXXIX (1981), pp. 101-37.
Joann, with the help of spiritual powers, stopped the chalice in mid-air,
blessed it, and then gave it to all present to drink from139.
Another detail recalls the close, ties between St Shio and Evagre:
a dove with a round loaf of bread in its beak flies towards Shio. When
the saint was praying in his cave he was left entirely without food. Then
«he, who by a raven fed Elijah in the Wilderness,» recounts the Life,
«each day sent Shio by a dove pure white bread»140. One day the Geor-
gian lord Evagre saw this dove while he was out hunting. He followed
the bird, found Shio’s cave and soon, renouncing a worldly life, became
the saint’s disciple and follower. A depiction of Evagre riding on horse-
back towards St Shio has been preserved in a relief on the 12th-century
altar screen from the Shio Mgvime monastery. We do not know, how-
ever, of direct analogies to the saint’s depiction in Akhtala.
The theme of the hagiography is transformed into a significant
symbol which forms part of the background to the portrait. This in-
terpretation of the depictions of holy monks is among the rare distin-
guishing features of the Akhtala murals. This iconographic approach
was well developed in Byzantine art, on the other hand. Vivid exam-
ples are icons of the Mother of God with prophets in the marginal
scenes. The depiction of each prophet is accompanied by symbols
that recall important episodes in their lives which, at one and the
same time, also prefigured the Virgin and the miracle of the Incarna-
tion141. It is interesting to note that the striving to give a liturgical in-
terpretation of symbols which can be observed in these works is also
typical of the Akhtala composition. For instance, the goblet blessed
by St Joann is given the appearance of the communion chalice and
decorated with a cross while the bread in the dove’s beak takes in the
form of the host.
The second, northern series of monks, ac-
cording to the Georgian inscriptions, depict
Euthymios Mtatsmindeli (of the Holy Mount),
Hilarion Kartveli (the Georgian) and George
Mtatsmindeli (of the Holy Mount). The most
honored position in the centre is allocated to
St Hilarion, a 9th-century Georgian monk who
traveled a great deal about the holy sites142.
But it was with Thessaloniki that he was most
closely associated, founding a monastery there
140 Ibid., p. 100.
141 On the tradition of such images
see Etingof O.E. Hermitage example
of Byzantine art of the Late XII century
// Eastern Mediterranean and the
Caucasus of the IV-XVI centuries.
Leningrad, 1988, pp. 153-4. - In
Russian.
142SeeMartin HisardB. La peregrination
du moine georgien Hilarion au IX siecle
// Bedi Kartlisa. Revue de Kartvelologie,
XXXIX (1981), pp. 101-37.